On the campaign trail: Day 27

MONTREAL – While Quebecers headed to the polls for the second time in as many months, hockey fans still have until January 2 to have their voices heard.

The Canadiens gave Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt a run for his money when the parties hit the campaign trail in mid-November, jumping out to seemingly insurmountable leads. Recently, though, the campaign has suffered a slowdown on the 51-day trail. Penguins delegate Sidney Crosby has moved ahead of the Habs’ three forward candidates up front. That pushed Alex Tanguay, the newest member of the Montreal delegation, to the outside. Fellow Pittsburgh rep Evgeni Malkin has also seen a surge in votes, moving ahead of Tanguay and tightening the gap on Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev.

Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek are still leading the way in the blue line riding, as is Carey Price in the All-Star crease. In both cases, though, a cell phone push by the Pittsburgh party has also begun putting some heat on Guy Carbonneau’s candidates.

Remember, there are two ways to have your voices heard and you can do both as often as you want: vote online or simply text “Canadiens” to 81812, guaranteeing a vote for all six delegates.